(a) whether the attention of the Government has been drawn to the news-item captioned `FCI
eats up, is always hungry for more` appearing in `Indian Express` dated May 10, 2003;
(b) if so, the facts of the matter reported therein;
(c) the action taken against those held responsible; and
(d) the preventive measures taken against such recurrence?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION ( SHRI SUBHASH MAHARIA )
(a) & (b): Yes, Sir. The News Report of 10th May, 2003 (Indian Express) contains the
observations of the latest CAG Report No.4 of 2003. The facts are as follows:-
(i) Losses occur in transit, inter-alia on account of multiple handling, long distance
carriage, trans-shipment and loss of moisture. As per the records of the Food Corporation of
India (FCI) the losses in transit between the period 1997-98 to 2000-2001 were about Rs.758.68
crore.
(ii) Storage losses occur due to driage of moisture, long duration of storage, bird/rodent
menace and theft. Storage loss of Rs.2,233 crore reported is for the period 1982-83 to
1999-2000 (i.e. for 18 years).
(iii) The total purchase of levy rice from 1997-98 to 2000-2001 was 372.89 lakh MTs and as per
CAG, the substandard procurement of rice was 3.67 lakh MTs. Thus the percentage works out to
0.98% only.
(iv) In Punjab, procurement is made through Kacha Arthias registered with the Market Committees
established under the relevant law. That is the reason the relevant column relating to payment
to farmers, was kept blank. This, however, does not mean that prompt payments were not made to
the farmers.
(v) The Budget Estimate of the food subsidy for 2003-04 is Rs.27,750 crore. The increase
in subsidy over the years was due to various reasons such as increase in MSP, higher levels of
buffer stocks due to increased level of procurement, and high off-take leading to higher consumer
subsidy, normal inflationary trends, etc.
(vi) The figure of 4997 Vigilance Cases pending in FCI since 1997 quoted in the Audit Report
appear to have been calculated by the addition of all closing balances of pending Vigilance Cases
in the FCI. The number of Vigilance cases pending as on 31.12.2001 was only 1663.
(vii) The FCI could not finalise its accounts uptodate as earlier there was a dispute between the FCI and the Principal Auditors. After an amendment in the Food Corporations Act in June,
2000 the C&AG became the sole auditor. The accounts of the FCI have since been certified by
the C&AG upto 1999-2000. The backlog is only for the years 2000-01 and 2001-02, the accounts
for which are currently under audit.
(c) & (d): The operations of the FCI are monitored by the Government from time to time and
the guidelines and instructions are enforced strictly in order to plug the loopholes. Wherever
specific irregularities have been noticed, action has been initiated under Staff Regulations/
Vigilance procedures to fix responsibility. The penalties vary from stoppage of increment,
reduction to lower ranks, dismissal from service, etc. Criminal action is also taken, wherever
warranted.
The FCI has been taking various preventive measures like surprise inspection of depots,
augmentation of covered storage capacity, installation of electronic weigh bridges, deployment
of Central Industrial Security Force personnel at vulnerable depots, etc. Further, instruction
are issued to field functionaries for procurement of foodgrains strictly as per the
specifications laid down, for disposal of all pending disciplinary cases in a time bound fashion
etc.